I want to delete a filing tray with some 3000 folders. This requires a huge task of deleting each folder
individually. Is there way of getting around this e.g by accessing the filename in the PMAIL directory
Unfortunately not. A tray is not a physical entity. In fact, there is no physical tray/folder structure. The structure displayed in the folder list is maintained by the hierarch.pm file in which folders entries contain a reference to the tray name they are associated with.
I've just noticed that if I move individual folders to Deleted Messages they completely disappear. Is that
to be expected ? If so it is quicker than pressing Delete then Yes to confirm you really want to delete the folder
I have now manually deleted all the folders in the filing tray so job done. All that remains is to delete the empty tray - however it still thinks it contains folders.
Try a restart of Pegasus Mail if you haven't. Heck, go so far as doing a cold boot of the PC. The oddest things have been fixed with a cold boot. Also confirm that you don't have a duplicate tray name.
If no joy then:
What I'm thinking is that perhaps duplicate folder names, one inside the tray and one outside of it, has confused Pegasus Mail. The search will turn up at least one entry that looks similar to this:
1,1,"0851582:tray name","033F1989:My mailbox","tray name"
Any entries in the form of the sample below are an indication of a folder in that tray, at least Pegasus Mail thinks there is (note the folder name is identifiable).
0,0,"U12CGKH7:6C1E:FOL03D5F","0851582:tray name","folder name"
If you find any entries like these check the Pegasus Mail folder list for those folder names and rename them to see if that solves the problem (after a Pegasus Mail restart). I might end up making folders visible in that tray that you will need to delete.
Following your example I have found this entry
0,0,"KPC8AV5O:59AC:FOL00273","6F7E1625:PEOPLE",Name_Unavailable
However FOL00273 does not exist.
Entries containing "Name_Unavailable" are common, and harmless. They are usually the result of a directory or mailbox added to the folder list as an added mailbox. When it is disconnected, it's entry remains in HIERARCH.PM for reuse when it is next accessed. They can also be the result of using a file explorer to delete folder files from the mailbox directory instead of deleting the folder from within Pegasus Mail. Pegasus Mail can't find the folder file associated with the entry resulting in "Name_Unavailable".
They're safe to delete but I've had random success at manually editing the HIERARCH.PM file so I don't recommend it.
Just to clarify - it's not any old Name_Unavailable entry !
It relates to this entry
1,1,"6F7E1625:PEOPLE","40E37974:My mailbox","ZZ-no"
and ZZ-no is the tray I cannot delete.
Would that make a difference ?
That entries tells me that a tray created with the name "People" has been renamed to "ZZ-no". I suggest searching HIERARCH for "People" and see what shows up.
Yes that is exactly the situation.
PEOPLE was the original name of the tray.
When I found I could not delete it I renamed it to ZZ-no so that it would appear at the end of the folders listings and 'out of the way'
PEOPLE appears only in the 2 entries mentioned above
I'm out of ideas short of manually removing those entries from HIERARCH. Make backup copy first. Pegasus Mail needs to be closed.
You might first try removing just the "Name_Unavailable" entry and then see if you can delete the ZZ-no tray from within PMail. In fact, it would be good to know whether a "Name_Unavailable" entry prevents tray deletion so if you're willing to do this please post back with results.
